Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Medicine Terry A.Maroney et al. Amicus Brief, Tennessee v. Barnes

This amicus brief by the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Medicine Terry A. Maroney, The Gault Center, and others. Amici argue a 16-year-old youth’s waiver of his Miranda rights was involuntary and his confession must be suppressed pursuant to the 5th and 14th Amendments, where he was threatened during interrogation with the possibility of the death penalty.

From the Introduction of the Brief:
“Amici submit this brief in order to explain why [youth] are-and should be-treated differently than adults during custodial interrogation. Development psychology, including adolescent brain science, helps explain the disproportionately high rate of both involuntary and false confessions among [youth]. Simply put, [youth] are more susceptible to coercive police practices during interrogations, a fact the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized. Amici are deeply troubled by the tactics used during the interrogation in this case-as well as in at least one other known Tennessee case, in which law enforcement officers similarly (and falsely) suggested to a [youth] suspect that the death penalty was a possible punishment for his alleged crime.
Because of its inherent coercive effect, Amici assert that any mention of the death penalty as a potential punishment during a custodial police interrogation of a [youth] should result in the per se suppression of any subsequent statement, admission, or confession. In the alternative, based on the totality of factors in this case, Amici believe that sixteen-year-old Brendan Barnes’ statement was involuntary and that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights.”